


What I Didn't Know

by Jackwinds



Category: Jackaby - William Ritter
Genre: Books, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship/Love, Injury Recovery, Interspecies Relationship(s), Jackaby - Freeform, Love, Love Confessions, POV First Person, Recovery, Relationship(s), Undecided Relationship(s), strong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 00:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackwinds/pseuds/Jackwinds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Preface: certainly don't have to have read Jackaby by William Ritter to read this, but it would probably help. Also, it's a fantastic novel so do read it anyways! In which Ms. Rook describes her newfound feelings towards one heroic man, part-dog, of a world unrestricted by reality. Told from the perspective of Miss Abigail Rook after her encounter with the redcap, a fantastical villain who nearly brings around her demise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What I Didn't Know

**Author's Note:**

> Jackaby was an incredible read. I’m the second on here to write for it, I highly recommend the creator: no_wifi_in_Trost who wrote the first Jackaby fiction here titled, “Empty Symbolism.” A little redundant considering my pseudonym, yes, Jack Winds is not actually my name, nor is Jacklyn Winds. I am however actually a woman. Just someone with a lot of love for writing and a desire to share it:1 Thanks for the read- and please leave a review, comment, or a critique. As always, I can use all your help! 
> 
> Thanks, xx Jacklyn Winds

Charlie Cane was, okay I’m going to be brutally honest here, truly a wonder. He had not only just saved my life, and secured my existence on this earth for the next- however long until Jackaby got a new case presumably, but he had successfully made me fall in love.  
I’m not really one to engage in the business stated above. Nor is Jackaby evidently, which is why I believe we got on so quickly, but we avoid this occupation for different reasons. Jackaby is simply, well he’s not simple at all, that’s my point. He’s too immensely complicated and blatantly unaware of the subtleties generally required for a budding romance. He takes everything in stride, he doesn’t adhere to the same underlying subtext that we all must learn to read in our lives. That’s just not how Jackaby works.  
Charlie, he gets it. In the ways that Jackaby can see the world for all the things that it isn’t, Charlie has the ability to see the world how it is. And I just notice the things that no one else does, like the stated differences between my employer and my, uh, friend. Yeah.  
I wish he could be something more. 

Charlie Cane was lying across the room from me, on a wooden bench. Even unconscious being a gentleman and letting me have the more comfortable location of recovery. His jet black hair was slick with sweat, but otherwise he seemed to be peaceful for someone who had just been the pincushion for his own commanding officer. 

Then, to my horror as well as to my relief, Charlie woke. My eyes thankfully were first to react, shutting closed in an instant. I figured it was a better approach than to have to face my utter mortification at being caught staring.  
Thankfully, Charlie either didn’t notice, or didn’t mention it. And I think it’s safe to say I chose right, as Jackaby and Jenny came striding in seconds after. 

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Jackaby was walking fast, but in short strides so I could hear the floorboards creaking as he paced around and in front of Charlie. I wanted to tell him to slow down for goodness sakes, the man only just woke up. 

“Mhm…” Charlie’s low voice came out slow and groggy but at least he could handle a response.  
“Jackaby quit running circles around the poor guy.” That was Jenny, and I silently thanked her for her sensibility.  
“Excuse me for making sure he’s healing okay,” came the indignant reply.  
“I’m doing much better thanks to you, sir.” Charlie said. The first full sentence he’d uttered since that fateful night. His deep voice shook almost imperceptibly but we all heard him clear his throat, like he was embarrassed at not being 100% after all that he’d been through. He breathed in deeply and exhaled at length, testing his lungs. He coughed out a forced bark, I didn’t need to see him to know he was wincing at the pain. My heart broke at the sound. 

My eyes opened seemingly of their own accord. It was as if my heart was telling my body what to do as opposed to my head. I think I just needed to know for sure that he was really truly still alive. The room was bright again for a couple seconds, and then when it dimmed to normalcy, there he was.  
A weary but genuine half-smile on those lips, dark eyes gazing at me the way I gazed at him. He was sitting, a hand resting on his thigh under a light sheet pulled halfway up his stomach, the bandage still wrapped tight across his chest. Boy was he a sight for sore eyes.  
“Miss Rook, you are certainly a sight for sore eyes,” his rumbling baritone taking the words right out of mind.  
To which I blushed something fierce and replied,  
“I’m only in one piece because of you, Officer Cane.”  
His wane smile widened a fraction and he nodded at me through those sleepy, brown eyes, saying,  
“Pleasure is all mine, I’m always happy to be of service,” with a nod and a heart melting wink.  
I could have sunk into the floor for the way my heart pounded.  
Before I could come up with any reply worth half a cent, he looked to Jenny and Jackaby and said,  
“I’m so thankful for all that you’ve done for me here. I know what a trouble I must be causing for you.”  
Jackaby dropped to one knee to be eye level with the Caini- as Jackaby had called him. The junior detective held his gaze, those stormy, blue-gray eyes that seemed to hold a world within them.  
“We, Miss Rook and I here, are the ones to be thankful for what you have done for us. We thank you and the House of Caine. Wherever you must go from here, please know what an asset you have been Charlie. I am proud to have known you.”  
It was the most sincere, more unlike-Jackaby thing Jackaby had ever said in my presence. But despite the stunned surprise at his words, my eyes filled with tears realizing that Charlie Cane was after all, having to leaving us.  
Charlie nodded solemnly but returned my employer’s rare smile in earnest. It seemed that Jackaby had said exactly what the young man needed to hear the most. That he was not the villain, that he was far from a monster. That he was a hero in our eyes, and that this is how we’d remember him after he’d gone.  
He looked up at me and his deep brown eyes shone in the setting sun. I knew looking between him and Jackaby, kneeling on the floor, that we would all hold onto this moment for as long as it lasted and in our hearts for as long as time itself.


End file.
